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Inca Civilization/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A robot, Moby, leads a llama into a bedroom. A boy, Tim, is sleeping in bed and dreaming. The llama licks Tim's face. TIM: Ohhh, Tramalica, your people have such unusual customs. Tim opens his eyes and sees the llama's face close to his. TIM: Aaah! MOBY: Beep. TIM: Moby, what did I tell you about bringing llamas into the house? MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, no one wants to have to clean up their— The llama makes an angry sound and spits on Tim's face. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, who were the Incas? From, Endy. An image shows the Inca Emperor standing atop a hill, looking down upon a village. TIM: The Incas were a society that flourished in the Andes Mountains of South America hundreds of years ago. Before Europeans arrived, the Inca civilization had the largest empire anywhere in the Americas. An image shows a map of South America. The Inca empire is a shaded area stretching along the western coast of the continent. TIM: At its height, it stretched from the border of present-day Columbia all the way down to Santiago, Chile. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, it was huge! It covered almost 800,000 square kilometers and had more than ten million people. Incan government was organized sort of like the Roman Empire. The map of the Inca empire shows the city of Cuzco. An image of the Inca Emperor is shown on the map. TIM: The Sapa Inca, or Emperor, ran the show from the capital city of Cuzco, in modern-day Peru. Beneath him, the empire was divided into four provinces, each with its own territorial government. Side by side images show three llamas being led down a road and a long rope bridge across a river. TIM: Like the Romans, the Incas tied their empire together with thousands of kilometers of roads and bridges. Their language, Quechua, spread through the region. It's still spoken by millions of South Americans today. And remnants of their remarkable stone buildings can still be seen throughout the Andes. MOBY: Beep. An image shows an Inca craftsman sculpting a large stone. Another image shows a wall made of stones of different shapes and sizes. TIM: Yep, the Incas were amazing architects. Their craftsmen cut building stone so they fit into one another perfectly. In fact, they fit so tightly, you couldn't even slide a knife blade between them. The map of the Inca empire shows the present-day countries of Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, and Chile . TIM: During the 1400s and early 1500s, the Inca Empire grew and grew. Each Sapa Inca put more land and more people under imperial control. MOBY: Beep. An image shows four Inca warriors with spears and shields. TIM: Right, they had a pretty fearsome army. But the Inca rulers preferred to persuade neighboring people into joining them. MOBY: Beep. An image shows the Inca emperor giving some cloth to two men who are not Incas. TIM: Well, for one thing, they'd offer them valuable gifts and promises of protection. An animation shows three children wearing backpacks, walking through a field to an Inca school. TIM: They'd also allow the local leaders’ kids to go to school in Cuzco, and to join the Inca nobility. If the local ruler said "no," the Inca army would come in and conquer them, and they'd either die or be made into slaves. So, most of them said "yes." MOBY: Beep. An image shows workmen carrying grain into a storehouse, either on their backs or on their heads. TIM: Actually, there were many benefits to joining the empire. The Incas built vast storehouses for grain, which helped them survive crop failures. A map of the Inca empire shows bags of grain across the entire territory. TIM: These stores could be distributed across the entire region, which meant that no one in the empire had to starve. When the Incas absorbed neighboring tribes, they let the people share in their wealth. In return, the people would have to pay a form of tax called mita. An image shows Incan people working on a road. TIM: For a few months each year, people were required to work on public projects like roads, buildings, and bridges. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, for all its power, the Inca Empire came to a quick end in the sixteenth century. In 1532, Francisco Pizarro arrived on the scene. He was a conquistador, or conqueror, from Spain. An image shows Francisco Pizarro. Another image shows Pizarro's army killing the Incas. The Spanish soldiers are protected by armor, and have long spears, swords, and guns. TIM: Pizarro had just a few hundred soldiers with him. But, because they had guns, swords, armor, and horses, they were able to kill thousands of Incas and capture their Emperor. By 1572, Inca society had been completely destroyed. Now, can you get this llama out of here? MOBY: Beep. Moby pulls the llama by a string around its neck, but it makes angry sounds and doesn't move. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Good grief. Why can't I have a normal robot like everyone else? Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Social Studies Transcripts